title: Digit ratio (2D:4D) and male facial attractiveness: new data and a meta-analysis.
abstract: Digit ratio (2D:4D) appears to correlate negatively with prenatal testosterone (T) effects in humans. As T probably increases facial masculinity, which in turn might be positively related to male facial attractiveness, a number of studies have looked into the relationship between 2D:4D and male facial attractiveness, showing equivocal results. Here, I present the largest and third largest samples so far, which investigate the relationship between 2D:4D and male facial attractiveness in adolescents (n = 115) and young men (n = 80). I then present random-effects meta-analyses of the available data (seven to eight samples, overall n = 362 to 469). These showed small (r ≈ -.09), statistically non-significant relationships between 2D:4D measures and male facial attractiveness. Thus, 2D:4D studies offer no convincing evidence at present that prenatal T has a positive effect on male facial attractiveness. However, a consideration of confidence intervals shows that, at present, a theoretically meaningful relationship between 2D:4D and male facial attractiveness cannot be ruled out either.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hönekopp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001504:Beauty; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development; D005385:Fingers / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone